Advice From a Tree
by yasha012
Summary: A series of related one-shots showing the developing relationship between Sesshomaru and Kagome. Rated T for language.
1. Stand Tall and Proud

**Stand Tall and Proud**

Kagome sat at her desk playing absently with her pencil. She was SUPPOSED to be doing her homework, but she just couldn't concentrate. It was just such a perfect day outside… She looked out the window again with a sigh and rested her cheek on her hand. What she wouldn't give to be running around outside like a little kid right now… It would certainly be better than trying solve pre-calculus problems.

_'Anything would be better than this,'_ she thought sullenly.

She turned her head back to her assignment and frowned. Then, without any warning, she slammed the book shut, thus sending her pencil flying, and stood up, slamming the book down onto the desk. The pencil hit the floor and rolled a few inches toward her bed while her papers fluttered silently down onto the desk and floor.

"I don't have time for this, anyway…" she muttered. "I've got to get packed soon or Inuyasha's going to kill me."

She resolutely set about gathering her things and packing her bag. She grabbed a couple extra pairs of clothes, her sleeping bag (which she'd thankfully had time to wash, as it had somehow ended up covered in webs the week before), her hairbrush and bath supplies, and, finally, her accursed homework. She shoved her papers into her textbook and stuffed the hated thing carelessly in her bag, wishing that she would never have to see it again. She knew it was foolish, but even so, she couldn't help but feel a rather large amount of ire towards it. Oh how she hated math…

"Oi."

She jumped with a small squeak and whirled around to face her window. Inuyasha stood in front of it with his hands shoved deep into his sleeves. He was glaring at her, but no more than usual. She regarded him curiously. Was it possible that she had somehow managed not to be late for once?

"You're late."

Or not.

"I'm almost done," she replied. "Just give me a minute to make sure I have everything."

He said nothing as she scoured her room for anything she may have forgotten. When she was done, she hoisted her pack onto her shoulder and they walked downstairs together in silence. Inuyasha took the bag from her at the foot of the stairs and she walked into the kitchen.

"Bye Mom," she said with a smile as they exchanged a long hug.

"Be safe, Kagome," her mother murmured, her eyes shining with pride and worry at the same time. "I know you'll be fine, you always are, but still. I just worry about you."

Kagome smiled wider.

"I know mama," she replied. Then, as she was walking out, she said, "I'll try to visit again soon. Tell grandpa goodbye for me when he wakes up? And Sota too, when he gets home."

"Okay."

And with that she and Inuyasha left the house and headed for the well. Inuyasha jumped down the well without a word, still displaying the same cool calmness from before. She sighed inwardly as she gazed into the well. He had been acting like this toward her ever since she'd told him that she'd moved on.

…

_"Waddaya mean "moved on", wench?!" Inuyasha shouted angrily._

_"I mean just what I said," she said firmly. "I've moved on. This is over. WE'RE over. We're still friends, but I don't love you like that anymore. As my brother maybe, but not like this. I've moved on."_

_He stared at her, half furious and half confused, as though trying to discern the true meaning behind her words. She continued determinedly._

_"You no longer have my heart."_

…

She stared into the depths of the well. She knew that fight was the real reason she felt so angry. Not because she hated her schoolwork (although she DID despise it), but because she'd thought that Inuyasha would support her decision to move on, leaving him free to chase after Kikyo all he wanted with no one to hold him back. She'd thought he'd be mature enough to handle their "break up", but it seemed that it was simply not meant to be. But at least he wasn't yelling at her constantly. She honestly preferred getting the cold shoulder to having constant screaming matches with him. And she knew her friends preferred it too, as it meant fewer arguments they had to listen to, and, of course, less fights that they would feel the need to break up or intervene in. She sighed and stared into the dark well, the sole object that had started it all, for a moment longer before jumping down into it and allowing herself to fall through time.

It wasn't long before her feet touched solid ground again and the heavenly blue light surrounding her faded into the afternoon sunshine filtering through the leaves of the trees down into her lonely well. She looked up and saw a clawed hand extended down toward her, an almost coldly indifferent face peering down at her. She took the proffered hand in one of her own smaller hands and allowed it to pull her up into the daylight. She smiled when she saw that all her friends had camped out by the well and waited for her like they always did. Their little group had grown in the past few months, and she couldn't help but smile because of it. She loved having so many friends… It was a wonderful feeling, especially considering the fact that her friends from her time were basically just gossip buddies or whatever it was regular teens called people like that.

"Welcome back, Kagome," Sango said warmly from where she sat with Shippo, Miroku, and Kirara on one of Kagome's picnic blankets. "Did you have a nice break?"

"Yup," she lied, not really feeling like talking about her mini temper-tantrum to anyone at the moment, especially when the cause of said tantrum was still standing right next to her. "I feel much better now."

"That's good," Miroku commented. "Where you able to catch up on your studies?"

"Er… Not exactly," she replied sheepishly.

"Did you bring candy?" Shippo asked excitedly, successfully drawing the attention of Kirara, whom they had learned loved chocolate for odd some reason after she had mistakenly left some out one night after making smores.

Kagome laughed a little and pulled a lollipop out of her pocket.

"Yes I did," she said, handing it to her adopted child. "And I have some more for later too, so don't worry."

He cheered and stuffed the strawberry sweet into his mouth, grinning gleefully at her. She turned somewhat guiltily to the fire cat, who was watching her with expectant eyes.

"Sorry girl, but I didn't have time to go to the store for chocolate. The only reason I have the lollipops is because my mom had a bowl of them in the kitchen. Maybe next time."

Kirara mewed mournfully at the same time as a pair of small feet came running toward her. Kagome was startled when a wreath of flowers suddenly appeared in her face.

"I made these for you, Miss Kagome! There are lots of pretty flowers around here!"

Kagome smiled and took the wreath gently in her hands before carefully placing it around her neck.

"Thank you very much, Rin. It's beautiful. You'll have to show me where you found these sometime."

The child beamed at her before dashing off again, closely followed by a very flustered looking Jaken, who was shouting at her to slow down. Kagome giggled a little and turned to Ah-Un to give each of them a friendly rub on their snouts. They each nudged her in a way that she had come to believe was equivalent to a hug and she smiled once again before turning away once more toward the last member of their group. He stood farthest away from the group, his long silver hair and large sleeves blowing softly in the gentle breeze. He leaned against the tree with his arms crossed and one leg bent at the knee, his foot resting on the trunk and his head turned away from all of them. His armor, which he had begun taking off whenever they took a long break, rested on the ground next to him with his swords.

"Hello Sesshomaru," she murmured.

"Hn," he muttered with his usual soft frown, not even bothering to look at her.

She smiled wider for some reason she couldn't name and turned back to the others.

"Perhaps we should get going?" she suggested. "We don't want to get any farther behind."

"I think that would be best," Miroku agreed. "Naraku has undoubtedly gained a number of shards since we've last seen him."

"Yeah, we should probably go," Sango said.

They she and Kagome folded up the blanket and packed it away in the bag, which Kagome then took from Inuyasha and hoisted onto her shoulders with a small grunt of effort. Rin returned from her flower collecting and sat down on Ah-Un with Shippo, who was still sucking on his lollipop. Kirara jumped onto Sango's shoulder as Kagome walked over toward Sesshomaru, handing a grape lollipop to Rin as she passed. She stopped a few feet away from the demon lord, apprehensive about approaching him any closer.

"Do you know which direction we're supposed to be going?" she asked the still reclining demon lord.

She watched as he breathed in softly, undoubtedly scenting the air, before nodding. She smiled thankfully. They would be so lost without him… He could always seem to find Naraku's scent, no matter how far away from him they were. It was a relief to finally have an edge on the elusive hanyou. She turned around to let everyone know that Sesshomaru had found the scent and by the time she'd turned around again he'd already donned his armor and was replacing his swords in his sash.

"Lead the way, Captain," she said jokingly.

He raised an eyebrow at her before turning and walking into the trees with everyone else in tow.

* * *

It was happening again. All the anger they'd been burying away for the past few weeks had finally boiled over and they'd begun to fight. What had started off as a stupid fight over lunch had quickly turned into a battle over their "break up".

"You had no right to leave me!" Inuyasha shouted.

"We were never together to begin with!" she shouted back. "You never let her go! You always chose that damned corpse over me!"

For once, she didn't care if she swore. She would swear all she liked! It didn't matter, anyway. They were in a secluded clearing quite a ways away from the others. They'd gone out looking for a stream to get some water when they'd finally just exploded.

"Her name is Kikyo!"

"And my name is Kagome! _Ka-go-me_! I am not "wench" or "woman" or "bitch"! And I am definitely _not_ Kikyo! In case you haven't noticed, I'm not _dead_!"

"Even dead she'd still a million times better than you! She's prettier, stronger, smarter, and best of all, she's not a _copy_! She's everything _you'll_ never be!"

"I don't need you to tell me I'm pretty, Inuyasha! I may not have the same elegant, graceful beauty that she has, but dammit, I'm still pretty enough to notice! And in case you haven't noticed, I'm more than strong enough! I could purify your ass in an instant, and so help me God, I will if you don't give this a damn rest! And since when do _you_ care about intelligence?! You can't even _read_, whereas I can read, write, explain scientific phenomenon that people like _you_ attribute to sorcery, and solve complex math problems the likes of which you've never even _seen_! And I am _not_ a _COPY!_ I may have her soul, but _I am not KIKYO!"_

Kagome stood there long after Inuyasha had left, furious tears streaming down her face. Her hands were still clenched into tight fists by her sides and she glared at the ground as though it had somehow betrayed her, as though it had taken his side in the whole thing. Taking a deep breath, she straightened her back, lifted her chin, and spoke to the sky.

"I am not Kikyo," she announced furiously. "I _am_ pretty. I _am_ strong. I _am_ smart."

"And don't you ever forget it."

She jumped at the sudden appearance of a new voice, one that was soft and smooth, lacking emotion yet full of it at the same time. She spun around to face the source only to find herself alone in the clearing.


	2. Go Out On a Limb

**Go Out On a Limb**

She had never seen such a beautiful sight. Silver surrounded by a halo of glowing gold, white tinged with crimson reds and rosy pinks, soft hair blowing in the breeze… She had never seen anything so beautiful.

So Kagome stared.

She had gotten up early this morning to watch the sunrise, the first one of winter. Those were always the most special, in her mind. They reminded her that life could always begin anew, no matter what happened. So she had gotten up early, wanting to enjoy the peace and quiet and solitude while it lasted. But she had forgotten that there was another in their group who enjoyed such things. Swallowing nervously, she approached him.

"Good morning, Sesshomaru," she said quietly, wary of disturbing him, but at the same time wanting to talk to their elusive ally.

Much to her surprise, he spared a glance before returning his gaze to the rising sun. Smiling softly to herself, she sat down next to him on the edge the cliff near where they were camping. She hugged her knees up to her chest and contemplated letting her legs hang over the edge like he was doing but decided against it. After all, unlike him, she couldn't save herself if she were to fall. If only humans could fly…

Pushing that odd, tired thought out of her mind, she returned her gaze to the sun. It was so beautiful… She didn't know why, but the colors of the rising and setting suns always made her think of love. Maybe it was just her being overly romantic, but really, wasn't red the color of love? Or was that pink? Both? Neither? God she was tired…

After a while, she decided she was tired of the silence and began to speak, even though she knew she wasn't likely to get a response out of her silent companion.

"It's really pretty, isn't it?" she asked quietly.

"Hn."

She smiled a bit, pleased that she'd gotten a reply, and continued to talk.

"You know, in my time red is symbolic of love. Pink too, but not as much. Red is seen as more passionate than pink."

He wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"Yet another reason to hate my brother's unfortunate taste in clothing."

She laughed a little before replying.

"Don't like red?" she asked with a smile.

"I don't care for it," he replied simply.

"Then why do you wear it?" she asked. "The flowers on your kimono," she clarified when he gave her a somewhat confused look.

He glanced down at one such pattern on his sleeve and grew quiet for a moment before replying.

"My father liked the color," he said finally.

_'So it's a sort of tribute to him,'_ she realized. _'A way of carrying his memory around, always keeping him close.'_

Deciding to steer the conversation to something less depressing, she decided to ask a different, potentially risky question.

"Sesshomaru, have you ever been in love?"

With a sigh that could have been mistaken for another blow of the soft breeze, he turned his gaze to the high sky above the beautiful sun. A certain sadness had entered his bright piercing eyes and she found herself regretting her question.

"I'm sorry," she started. "I shouldn't-"

"Once," he said suddenly, his voice so soft she was sure she'd imagined it.

Before she could stop herself she asked, "What happened?"

He was quiet again before replying.

"She loved another."

"Oh."

She looked away, ashamed at herself for bringing up what was obviously a painful subject for him.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I shouldn't have asked."

"Don't be," he replied, his flawless mask returning. "It doesn't matter."

It was quiet for a moment before she spoke again as she stood to get started on breakfast.

"Well, if you ever want to talk about it," she said with a smile, "you know where to find me."

She turned around so quickly that she almost missed the startled light that entered his eyes. His beautiful, beautiful eyes…


End file.
